This one's for Lintil

some of my grandfather's creative snacks, treats, meals, remedies and cleaning supplies:

orange peel, for wiping down the kitchen table

raw ginger, mashed up and mixed with honey, as a sore throat and digestive upset remedy

raw beets, microwaved, sliced and salt-and-peppered for a snack

'donut' prepared by toasting a slice of buttered bread, sprinkling liberally with sugar, and cutting vertically into 4 pieces

fizzy 7Up plus milk, drunk all at once for a digestive remedy

'yum' prepared by microwaving yam and milk and mashing together for a hearty breakfast meal

quick cooking quaker oats cooked in milk, over the stovetop, for a long period of time

kosher bean soup mixes cooked with a bouillon cube and canned tomato soup

cheap ghee, made by melting sticks of butter over the stove

plain yogurt mixed with molasses (and sometimes with grated pieces of a big chunk of raw, unrefined sugar), for good digestion

orange juice made from concentrate, with salt and pepper added

rusks, made by toasting stale breadloaf-ends in the oven

kebabs made out of moose-meat (commissioned to my aunt)

dark vinegars to accompany a meal of daal and roti (chapatti)

melon seeds, cleaned, dried, stored in yogurt containers and subsequently de-shelled and eaten or used in some kind of dessert

barbequed (but really charred) tandoori chicken and kebabs for Eid and other family gatherings

corn-on-the-cob literally cooked over the stovetop, on top of a pair of metallic tongs resting on the element

man, is that all? i feel like there's gotta be more. maybe they'll come to me later.

my grandfather is a bit eccentric, not because he's old, but just because several of my relatives are eccentric, and he's one of them. he's on the obsessive-compulsive side when it comes to...well, just about anything. it means a lot to him when other people eat his culinary creations, and in the past this has meant very urgently insisting that we try whatever he has made. he also has a lot of pride in whatever he produces, and encourages others to participate in the production process. Again, in that obsessive compulsive way of his.

He's quite capable of fending for himself in the kitchen (although he's nearing 9o, so i'm not as sure of that anymore), but would never designate himself the house cook. He leaves that to the women, and never fails to complain profusely that he can do better- when it's not to his liking - or compliment himself grandly on purchasing such fine ingredients -when he does enjoy the food (my grandfather has always been the one to do the grocery shopping -I think because in Pakistan it's often men who have (had?) this role - and it's something that he enjoys thoroughly. It involves trips to multiple stores and usually takes several hours).

yeah, that's my gramps.